Recipe Testing: Bialy

Today we tested the Bialy.  A Bialy is a dense Jewish bread that is topped with onions and poppy seeds.  We added some fresh springs of dill for additional flavor and presentation.  You will notice that the dough is the same as the bagel recipe but there are modifications in the procedure and toppings.

Ingredients:

Bialy Dough

1 1/2 Cups Warm Water

1 Tbsp. Dry Active Yeast

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tbsp. Melted Butter

2 tsp Malt Syrup (find at specialty grocery stores like whole foods)

2 tsp Salt

4 1/2 cups Unbleached Bread Flour

Topping

3 onions (medium diced)

3 TB olive oil

2 TB poppy seeds

1/4 cup corn meal

T.T. salt

Fresh dill sprigs to garnish

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Mix warm water, yeast, sugar and allow the yeast to bloom for 5 minutes. 
3. Stir in the melted butter, malt syrup, salt and 1 cup flour.
4. Slowly mix in enough flour to form a stiff bagel dough (reserve the rest of flour if there is any for shaping and kneading the dough, you may need more flour for kneading if there is none left)
5. Knead the dough for 10 minutes.  Set aside in a warm place and cover with plastic wrap or a cloth.  Allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, place a saute pan over medium heat adding 1 TB olive oil.  When the pan starts to get hot add your onions in and cook them until they are a caramel brown color.  Stir in the poppy seeds and set the onion poppy seed mixture aside.
7. After the dough has risen for 30 minutes, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.  
8. Shape each piece by following the Bialy Shaping video below.
9. Spoon the caramelized onion mixture into the center of the bialy, and repeat until you have evenly filled all of the bialys with caramelized onions.
10. Now place parchment paper or silpats on the bottom of two half sized sheet trays (cookie sheets) and spread the cornmeal over the bottom of the two trays.  If you dont have parchment paper or silpats just use extra cornmeal on the bottom of the pan to prevent them from sticking.
11. Place the bialys on the sheet trays spacing them out evenly.  With the remaining 2 TB of olive oil brush the top of the bialy dough. Sprinkle the tops with a little bit of salt.
12. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.  Upon removing from the oven garnish with fresh dill sprigs.  Eat with Cream cheese, butter, or just as is.  

Share The Bialy Recipe Facebook